Here's what's coming at you in the Poconos in 2013

We're barely away from 2012, but it's time to start looking ahead to 2013. Here are some of the big stories that we know will be in the news this year.

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By MICHAEL SADOWSKI

poconorecord.com

By MICHAEL SADOWSKI

Posted Jan. 1, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By MICHAEL SADOWSKI

Posted Jan. 1, 2013 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

We're barely away from 2012, but it's time to start looking ahead to 2013.

Here are some of the big stories that we know will be in the news this year:

The former Jackson Township pastor accused of killing both his first and second wives is scheduled to start the Monroe County portion of his legal fight Jan. 7, when jury selection is slated to begin. Schirmer, the former pastor at Reeders United Methodist Church, has been charged with killing his second wife, Betty Jean Schirmer, in 2008. He was charged in 2010 after a two-year investigation. In 2012, he was charged in Lebanon County with killing his first wife in 1999.

We know 2012 brought us some of the most severe budget crunches ever for local school districts. As districts face a late January deadline to release their preliminary budgets, we wonder ... how much worse can it get? The economy hasn't recovered, taxpayers won't accept tax increases without a fight, all while about half of the county's school board members will be trying for re-election.

As early as February, two electrical companies could begin test borings for the proposed power line that would run across the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, the Delaware River and the Appalachian Trail. PPL Electric Utilities of Pennsylvania and Public Service Electric & Gas of New Jersey plan to replace existing 95-foot-tall towers with 195-foot towers and doubling the line's transmission capacity. While that planning is going on, the power line's opponents are hammering away at a legal injunction to stop the line's construction. Environmental groups have argued the construction of the new line would damage the scenic and ecological qualities of the park.

Officials from the biggest resort project in the history of the Poconos have set quite an ambitious schedule. After spending the last few months trying to secure permits and selling the project to locals, the Wisconsin-based company hopes to start construction in Pocono Manor in April. That means receiving various necessary — and sometimes difficult — permits from Tobyhanna Township, the Monroe County Conservation District and other state and local entities. The three-phase construction could have the resort open with about 400 rooms, an indoor and outdoor water park and a convention center by November 2014.

It won't have the same kind of appeal as 2012's presidential election, but we've still got some deciding to do. Municipal elections will be held. This year is routinely the year with the smallest voter turnout, as it is reserved for municipal elections only — none of the county, state or federal offices are scheduled to be up for grabs. That leaves many borough, township and school board offices on this year's docket.

The central sewer system more than a decade in the making is expected to open in the spring, bringing municipal sewer service to the Route 611 corridor from Swiftwater to Bartonsville. The $78 million project also includes disposal at the expanded sewer plant in Stroudsburg that services Stroudsburg and Stroud Township, a $37 million project. The project's user fees are the highest in the county for any central sewer system at $1,250 per year per equivalent dwelling unit. It also carries a one-time $3,750 tap-in fee, discounted at $2,500 for existing, developed properties that pay before a certain period.

It's been years, decades, since Indy cars raced at the Long Pond track, leaving under the threats of lawsuits and the huff of bad blood. But on July 7, IndyCar returns to the Poconos after renovations and changes made the track safer for the race series to return. The race also will be part of IndyCar's renewed "Triple Crown" of races that will offer $1 million to any driver that can win the Indianapolis 500 on May 26, the Pocono 400 and the season-ending MAVTV 500 in Fontana, Calif., on Oct. 19.

The $23 million Delaware Valley Elementary School in Milford Township is expected to be built in 2013. The Delaware Valley School board plans to move younger students to a new campus, across from Altec Lansing on Route 6/209. The elementary school must be built first, to make room for the high school improvements. Builders will raze the current elementary school and expand the high school athletics facility. The $7 million high school expansion will include a wrestling room large enough for two mats and a new large gym space that can be divided to form two basketball courts for practice, or be opened to a full court with seating for 1,000. Together the projects are expected to cost $30 million.

After a year of wondering whether the county-owned nursing home would be sold, we know it's staying with the county in 2013. But what happens this year — when union employees are up for contract negotiations and county commissioners seek continued reductions in the facility's annual subsidy — could go a long way in determining whether the Snydersville nursing home will stay that way.